Making a blanket fort with your kids is a great way to turn a boring, humdrum day into something fun!
In today’s post, we’ll go over the materials you’ll need to make a blanket fort, how to build it, and also a few ideas for what you can do with your blanket fort once it’s up.
Here, you can watch The Monster Crew Family build a Blanket Fort:
(Psst...If you're looking for activities to do at home with your kids, you can grab my free list of 20 Fun Things to do at Home with Your Kids from The Monster Crew website! Just scroll to the bottom of the page. 😋)
Materials:
First off, what will you need when you make your blanket fort? Well, if you go about it like we did, you’ll want to have these things on-hand…
chairs
sheets
blankets
pillows
yardstick or wrapping paper roll
decorations (optional)
How to build it:
Building a blanket fort is a great family activity because you have to work together to create it. Plus, it’s fun when everyone can add their own touches to make it feel special.
Step 1: Place the Chairs
Set up chairs in a square or rectangular shape, however large you want your fort to be. The backs of the chairs should face one another to create walls for the sides of your fort.
Step 2: Lay the Blanket(s)
Now is a good time to lay a blanket down on the floor. It’ll be the comfy, cozy floor for your fort.
Step 3: Drape the Sheets
Sheets are the secret ingredient for a good blanket fort.
Drape sheets over the sides of the chairs first to create walls for your tent.
Then, drape another sheet over the top of the chairs, creating a roof.
Tip: If the top sheet doesn’t seem to want to stay put, you can weigh it down by putting books in the seat of the chairs you’re using.
By the way…when we made our blanket fort, we used a dark comforter for the roof of our fort because we wanted to decorate the top with stars. The dark color of the comforter really made the stars pop. So, if you don’t have enough sheets, you could just use a comforter.
Step 4: Set up the Yardstick or Wrapping Paper Roll
If your roof is sagging, you can use a yardstick or a wrapping paper roll to help hold it up. Just think of it as a support post.
Step 5: Decorate
Decorating the blanket fort really makes it feel special. You could simply add pillows and a few books. Or, you could put up some Christmas lights to give it some atmosphere.
When we made our blanket fort earlier this week, we added both of those things. Plus, we printed out some stars for the roof and some windows for the walls. We colored and cut out our stars and windows and taped them inside our fort.
What do do with your Blanket Fort:
Okay. So, you built the fort…now what? After putting all that effort into creating your blanket fort, you’ll probably want to leave it up for a few days. But, what do you do with a fort that’s set up in your living room? Here are a few ideas…
Turn your blanket fort into a reading nook.
Watch a cartoon on your iPad.
Play a board game.
Use it for pretend play (it could be a house, castle, pirate ship, or spaceship).
Are you fired up and ready to get started building your blanket fort? I hope so. I think you and your kids will love it!
Thanks for reading this post and happy building!
You may also like:
Stay awesome!
